The Three R's

Everyone knows the most important things you can do to reduce your personal impact on the environment:

1. Reduce

2. Re-use

3. Recycle

I always considered myself to be an environmentalist, but I did not fully incorporate these important steps into my life until this year. I have always recycled, because it is the easiest step to take to reduce your carbon foot print. However, I was excited to find out that there is more that I can do which will have a larger positive environmental impact, costs nothing, and can save you money.

That is not to say that recycling is not important, it is very important. However, there are more effective ways to help the environment. Which is why recycle is the third of the R's, they are ordered in level of impact.

We'll start with #1, Reduce.

This year I have managed to significantly reduce my overall waste and even decreased my recycling by getting rid of single-use items in my home.

Another step I took in order to decrease my overall waste was starting a compost pile. I have been interested in composting for a long time, but I was unable to because of living in an apartment or conducting research that made me believe the only way to compost was through buying expensive equipment. This is simply not true. I won't get into a lot of specifics in this post for the sake of time, but make sure you don't add meat, oils, dairy, and chemicals to your compost pile. I have started growing a lot of indoor plants, both to act as natural filters for the air I breathe every day, and because they make any room look better. I have spent a lot of money on dirt. Composting both increases the quality of the plants and reduces the amount you need to spend buying something that is necessary if you want to grow your own plants.

#2, Re-Use

This has also been another long-term passion of mine. I admit, the majority of my items used to end up being donated or recycled. Those are both still great options. However, there are so many other things you can do with them to increase their value (both to sell and for your own personal use). Re-using items is a great way to save yourself money.

#3, Recycle

This basic step is something I have always been passionate about. Luckily, I now have a recycling center on my way to work. I stop there and empty my recyclables at least three times a week. It is important to make sure you are recycling correctly because you can actually make the job more difficult and potentially dangerous to the people working in the recycling centers. Know what materials your local recycling center accepts and always make sure you are not putting items into the receptacles that your community does not recycle.

Fortunately, when I moved to Ohio from Pennsylvania (surprisingly because they are so close) the types of plastic I could recycle increased drastically. Before I could only recycle plastics #1 and #2. Now, I can recycle plastics #1-7.

Items you no longer have use for but are not accepted at recycling centers, such as electronics, light bulbs, batteries, and plastic bags, generally are accepted for recycling at other locations. Giant Eagle, Walmart, and other grocery stores frequently accept plastic bag recycling; Home Depot, Lowe's, and Best Buy offer recycling programs for electronics and other waste. Just make sure you check with your local stores to see what kind of products they accept.